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American Red Cross Rushes Assistance to Refugees in Macedonia
With tensions escalating between government and rebel forces in Macedonia, thousands of people are fleeing from their homes to escape the possible outbreak of fighting in and around their villages. Outside Skopje, Macedonia's capital, many hillside villages are now ghost towns as residents seek safe refuge to the south and across the border in Kosovo. Displaced villagers are staying with host families or in hotels, subsidized and supported by the Macedonian Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Lending its support and assistance, the American Red Cross is rushing food and personal hygiene supplies from warehouses in Bulgaria to Macedonia for distribution. The parcels containing flour, oil, sugar, beans, pasta, rice, canned tomatoes, sardines, yeast, soap and shampoo, toothbrushes and toothpaste, towels, shampoo, and toilet paper are urgently needed to sustain a healthy life in difficult conditions and to minimize the risk of health problems. Today, a convoy of four trucks carrying 2,500 family parcels are en route to Macedonia from the American Red Cross warehouse in Sofia, Bulgaria. Another 7,500 family packages will be sent on a later shipment.
This is not the first time the American Red Cross has been in the region. For more than a decade, the organization has been supporting people displaced by conflict throughout the Balkans. With delegations in Macedonia and elsewhere throughout the Balkans, current programming will be ongoing for another three years. In 2000, the American Red Cross and the Bulgarian Red Cross agreed to work together on emergency response to large-scale crises throughout the region. This partnership was formed to strengthen the ability of the Red Cross to respond to disasters and to share expertise. The transport and distribution of the family parcels is one example of this new partnership.
On a larger scale, in the Macedonian towns of Lipkovo, Slupcane and Otlja, the ICRC is actively evacuating people and delivering food, medical and hygiene supplies to clinics and the newly displaced. On Tuesday, June 12, the ICRC conducted its largest single evacuation since the conflict between the Macedonian forces and ethnic Albanian armed groups began in March 3/4 approximately 330 civilians from Lipkovo and Otlja were taken to safety. The ICRC's efforts provide a lifeline mostly for women, sick men, elderly people and children who are unable to leave on their own. Since March, tens of thousands of people have fled the region; an estimated 830 people have been evacuated by the ICRC.
Thomas Jenatsch, ICRC evacuation team head said it was impossible to assess how many people wanted to leave Lipkovo and said, "But we have the strong impression that many no longer feel safe and that the psychological pressure of recent weeks is taking its toll."
After fleeing their homes in and around Aracinovo, nearly 3,000 evacuees registered with the Macedonian Red Cross are now receiving aid from the organization. For more information, please contact Megan Fox at (202) 639-3282; e-mail foxme@usa.redcross.org.
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